I think at this point no one can doubt Brad Stevens is among the elite coaches in the NBA.

SO how do other posters feel about acquiring a player who has been bought out or via trade? The 8.4m Exception we got from the Hayward injury puts us in a very good position to sign any guys who get bought out.

Oakafor? Maybe BS can be the coach who fixes some of his defects? The upside of a young player who can really score inside is intriguing.

Greg Monroe? Maybe he gets traded but i feel like if he is released he would be a nice pickup. Another legit big who can defend and rebound would be a sweet pickup be in Monroe or someone else who fits the bill.

13 in a row for the team to beat in the east. As far as the exception to bring on another player...I',m thinking no rush, wait until some guy they really want becomes available, otherwise, wait til the last minute...

Rhodymob05 wrote:I heard on sports talk that it would be beneficial to trade Brown and Tatum for Anthony Davis..........I say NOPE.

NO WAY they should do that. These kids are very good, and they're basketball babies. It takes a few years for most great players to develop, especially when they are starting in their teens (exception Lebron of course). Looks like we have two potential all stars, with potential upside even beyond that.

Rhodymob05 wrote:I heard on sports talk that it would be beneficial to trade Brown and Tatum for Anthony Davis..........I say NOPE.

NO WAY they should do that. These kids are very good, and they're basketball babies. It takes a few years for most great players to develop, especially when they are starting in their teens (exception Lebron of course). Looks like we have two potential all stars, with potential upside even beyond that.

Why would you even think about making any changes, never mind a gigantic one like that, when you have won 13 straight games.If it ain't broke don't fix it

Brown and Tatum were exactly who I wanted the Celtics to take the past two drafts. And they grabbed Tatum with the genius move of dropping to 3rd to take him. Tatum was the #1 guy in the draft imho.

I saw of these guys in AAU ball, before college, and thought they had great potential. Both in the starting lineup as just kids. The future is very bright for both of them.

The Celtics may have a luck component on their side that I think a lot of people are overlooking.Regular season basketball is very different from postseason basketball, for one.Two, the Celtics are one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA.They are shooting 43.3% from the floor for the season, and 43.5% from the floor on this win streak. The 43.3% ranks 26th out of 30 teams.They've made up for it by becoming a borderline great rebounding team on both the offensive and defensive glass, which has increased their shot attempts which obviously helps in a lot of these closer games. If the C's can maintain their hot defense of the first 15 games (league best) and continue to clean the glass at a Top 5 rate, I think this team is talking that 58-62 win territory and potential contenders for the Finals.I'm just not sure whether they've just gotten off to a very very very hot start and they will regress slightly to their norm, which is still very good but not great, or whether they can maintain this terrific pace -- Obviously can't expect them to win 13 out of every 15 (would be about a 71-11 record), but if they win 10 out of every 15 on out, that's about a 58 win pace if my math is correct.

Those Davis trade rumors just seem like the usual sports radio insanity to fill up airtime. The Pelicans are currently fifth in the west, 8-6. They're not trading Davis unless they start losing a shitload of games.

I think the Celtics are probably playing a bit over their heads right now, but hey, always good to bank some wins in the regular season. I honestly wouldn't be surprised with almost any outcome from the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Cavs might play hard and beat the Celtics, the Celtics could overwhelm them with defense, maybe some of the Celtics offensive stuff won't work in the playoffs and they won't even make the finals, etc. Lot of outcomes in play to me, but that's generally a really good thing to me, since they got a younger and healthier player in the Kyrie deal.

Maaaybe they are playing over their heads, but....They did flat out get better... Irving for Thomas - big upgrade. Baynes, M Johnson, Tatum and probably forgetting someone, for Olynk, Zeller, Amir Johnson and Jerebko? MAJOR (MAJOR) upgrade. So, they got a much better group and one of the best coaches in the sport...who took them to the finals last year...He will absolutely get them to The Finals this year.

Maybe lucky, maybe not lucky, but I absolutely LOVED the trade of Thomas for the much taller 6'3" Irving, and loved the drafting of Tatum and Brown. And now Marcus Morris is looking like a brilliant trade for Avery Bradley and a 2nd round draft pick...........and this 13 game win streak is without Hayward.Celtics going more towards a positionless basketball team with a bunch of very talented 6'7 to 6'9 guys who can defend, shoot, pass, rebound, run

I'd hope we'd all agree that the roster is definitely more dynamic than it was at this time last year, and not just that but basically everyone on the roster has the potential of improvements (some more significant than others) in the coming years. That said, at this point, they are probably 2 pieces away from being able to be competitive in a 7 game series against Golden St. today, but if you bring back Hayward and one of Brown/Tatum becomes "superstar" caliber, those are your pieces. I think the people who entertain the fake NO trade talks for Anthony Davis do so because that would bring back a proven superstar, rather than banking on potential which is largely what is being done with Brown/Tatum. Both have played very well, both seem to have high ceilings, but this season has been a 15 game sample to date. Both still have to make significant improvements to take that next step necessary, and probably a few years to get close to that ceiling. Regardless, I'm still not sure I make that deal, but I think that's the logic and I can understand it. A lineup of Irving-Hayward-Morris-Horford-Davis with Smart, Rozier, Theis, Baynes/Yabo, Semi, Larkin plus the 2018/2019 pick would certainly make things interesting much faster.

I like Tatum way more then i expected. Wish we could have landed both him and Dennis Smith JR somehow... Brown looks like a good starter but i would be far more willing to trade him in the future...

But If that deal was legit (it's not happening) it would be almost criminal to not take it. AD is going to be a top 5 player in the NBA for the foreseeable future.. A core of Davis, Irving, Hayward, and Horford ensures we would be an elite team for quite a while.. I don't see how you pass up that opportunity.

But getting back to reality. How far does the team go to retain Marcus Smart in FA this upcoming offseason? Assuming he continues to be the same player hes been so far. I think maybe given we won't have a shot at any future FAs fora while anyways you just pay whatever?

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:Fantastic win and finish for the C's tonite....10-4 run in the last 27 seconds to steal one (that they should have won earlier)

Early in the season, they were the team that got down big early and clawed back late to win the game ... Last few nights, they've been unbelievable in the 1st quarter to get out to 18-20 pt leads and need to struggle down the stretch just to steal a W. There is a ton of potential on this this team, they still have some major kinks to work out, namely the bench. I think it's hurting their flow to have to substitute out the starters so early (Tatum, Horford) to have to force them to play with the 2nd unit. Starters come back in and then Tatum and Horford need to rest, the starting 5 in it's entirety only playing about 20 minutes a game the past few, if that.

IMO, as currently constructed it's a real liability and costing the C's many games. Having Smart and Rozier as your main shot creators and offense is super dangerous considering they both are shooting sub 35% from the floor. Tatum and Horford playing with the bench ore was necessary as the shooting was even worse before they started playing with em. Way too many nights where the bench shoots 5-25 from the field.

We need someone who can actually produce decent offense for that second unit... Ideally another shooter also. Maybe we could get Julius Randle and/or Larry Nance JR from the Lakers?

Basically we can only use it to sign a player for the rest of the year or trade for an expiring contract. I think Julius Randle would actually be someone we could go after with this. Might be interesting to check out other 14 draft picks also.

C's are so frustrating yet also so exciting to watch. Talk about a range of emotions last night -- And it was also nice to see Harden meltdown in the clutch - He had a terrible 2nd half and while I respect his talents, his demeanor is so Lebron-esque and it drives me absolutely insane. Also some terrible decision-making ... After he hit a tough 3 to put the Rockets up 4 with 2:03 left, he went missed layup,had a 3 point attempt blocked, took a 33' 3 with 13 seconds left on the shotclock that he missed, made a few FT's, and then was called for multiple offensive fouls -- And then he had the audacity to blame the officials? Sure, situation was not ideal, but the officials didn't make you shot a 33' 3 from the Celtics logo with 13 seconds on the shot clock and 29 seconds on the game clock.

C's in a good spot -- 33-10, their next 10 really aren't that tough. #17 Philly in England, #16 NO at home - Davis out with ankle injury could be back, #17 Philly at home, #29 Orlando at home, #28 LAL on road, #19 LAC on road - Blake injured against with concussion but DTD, #1 GSW on road, #14 Denver on road, #18 NY at home, #30 ATL at home.Should be sitting 40-13 at worst after that, and that is being generous. And even better than that is the rest, have had 4 days off since Saturday's game and 4 days off before NO. After playing a previous 10 that including breaks of 1-0-1-1-1-0-2-2-1-0 (9 off days), they now go 4-4-1-2-1-0-2-1-1-1 (17 off days).Granted there is a west coast trip in there, but I honestly don't feel the LA trip is that terrible, play back-to-back but stay at same hotel.

Meanwhile, Toronto has been playing awesome basketball but Lowry is now out with a back. Should only miss a few games. Have a little harder schedule next 10 games --- #1 GSW (home), #5 SA (home), #6 Cleveland (home), #7 Minnesota (away), #9 Miami (home), #13 Detroit (home) all in the mix. Nice that they have a lot of home games, but might be tougher with Lowry not fully healthy.

Cleveland is playing arguably their worst basketball of the season and completely melted down last night as IT tossed for closeline on Wiggins and Lebron with only 10 points in huge loss.

I trust Cleveland will be there in the playoffs, but they are now 5.5 back in East, Toronto 2.5.